Wow that is really good to hear. I think I can live with 95% for sure. Please keep us up to date when your new stable connector comes in. I'm hoping to get working on my radioshark this weekend and I'll post when I do!

Not sure if anyone figured this out yet or if it has been answered but the cable from the car antenna to the head unit is indeed co-ax cable. I'm not sure if it is co-ax for am or fm transmital though.
I do know that most am units perform better with a loop style antenna, an fm receives better signals with two antennaes (as opposed to one).
Not sure if this provides you any help, I'm just throwing out the info.

I'm probably going to try the radioshark myself as I seem to miss the radio more than I thought I would.
Radio's are not really my thing but as a flight engineer I have access to techicians and engineers who are well versed in the subject and may be able to work out some of our problems with their help. I'll post if I find any significant improvements when I inevitably start hacking mine (be patient, I need to get one first! )

I have access to techicians and engineers who are well versed in the subject and may be able to work out some of our problems with their help

That would be excellent - any help you can provide would be appreciated!

I'm pretty sure that in most headunits, the antenna wire is used for FM while an internal loop antenna within the head unit recieves the AM. I could be wroing but I think I remember hearing that somewhere.

I haven't gotten to installing my radioshark in the car yet, but my plan is to set it up just like godraj described above. I'll use coax to go from the radioshark to the antenna input plug in my car.

As soon as I get a radio shark, I plan to start hacking, just looking for the best price right now. Shipping to Canada seems to be pretty pricy everywhere.
As I remember, AM uses a loop antenna. Often, an AM antenna consists of a core with wire wraped around it (ususally a carbon rod I think with progressive copper windings). I'm sure it's more techinical than this and if I remember properly from my electronics course (looooooong time ago) there are some calculations nessesary for length and number of turns of wire.
Fm works with the single wire antenna, but is even better with the "rabbit ear" style antennaes or two culminated antennas. If I remember correctly, it has to do with the length of the wave (fm is much longer than am), but that's all a little bit too techinical for our purposes here (and that part of my memory is pretty dusty!).

Anyone have any new updates?
I have recently tried using a femeale antenna cable to replace the rca cable that I used in my last posts. This provided a 100% connection between the radioshark and the car antenna, however has decreased the signal strength; which is very odd. I am going to make some more adjustments to it this weekend. If i can't get anywhere, then I am convinced that the radio shark just can't be used for car setup. In which case someone needs to make something that can be used OR will just live without radio.

Nah, I'm going back to the head unit instead of continuing to pour money into this thing and end up with less functionality than what I started with. i'm also tired of chasing the sound quality and imaging issues with the usb sound card. My head unit has a usb connector so i'm going right into that from the computer. Sorry boys, you'll have to figure it out without me.

I am not ging up on this, but the project for me is on hold until the end of July because4 I'm studying for the Bar exam which takes up every moment of my life. Once I'm done with that and I can once again taste the sweet taste of freedom, the radioshark will become a priority. Update us about this weekend, though godraj - very weird about the antenna wire...

I've had good luck with this

I recently reboxed my radioshark as well.

The reception has vastly improved. I added a motorola connector to the FM and a new AM loop that I snagged from a indoor tuner.

I noticed some confusion about where to wire up the FM leads (AM leads are a no brainer). I found an alternate ground, the square hole open on the top of the board where it is labelled J9. So, the center pole of the motorola connector is soldered to the board where it is marked FM, and the outer ring of the connector to the new alternate ground I found on the RadioShark board.

UPDATE: I'm now wondering if using the vehicle's ground might improve reception - maybe utilizing the metal on the car as antenna might not be a bad thing... of course, could add tremendous amounts of noise and interference...

I haven't run the car outside of the garage with the RS hooked up, so I don't know how reception is affected when the car is moving, but in my garage the FM reception is pretty good. I'm still fiddling with AM, as I'd like to mount the loop under my dash. Problem is that the station I listen to the most comes in best when the loop is standing up in a way that would be impossible to mount... maybe things will improve when I get fully installed and moving on the road. If not, I may look into wiring into the rear defroster for use as the AM loop.